Will increasing from 3GB RAM to 6GB/8GB speed up booting and loading programs with this laptop?

Hi.

I have an ASUS K52F laptop:
Intel Core i3 - M380 @ 2.53GHz
3GB RAM (max 8GB)
320GB hard drive
Windows 7 64-bit


I want to speed up the booting, multitsking and loading of programs, and if i increase the RAM will this speed everything up?

I use it for web browsing up to 8 tabs ata time, itunes, movies, youtube and word processing. sometimes all at the same time

by increasing the RAM to 6 OR 8GB will this speed up these functions?

if so, will there be a big difference between 6 and 8GB RAM for what i will be doing?


Also, my old ASUS X5DIJ:
Celeron Dual core T3100 @ 1.90GHz
4GB RAM
280GB hdd
Windows 7 64 bit


This seems to boot, load programs and multitask faster than the new laptop?!
is it purely because it has more RAM?

Thanks

 

Well there's a good chance your laptop has 3x more startup programs than your desktop, so that's why it loads faster.

and no, RAM will not give you that performance increase, but an upgrade from a HDD to an SSD will.

 

Open Task Manager > Performance and watch CPU and memory, then act accordingly. Use Resource Monitor to get more info.

Basically:
High CPU usage > kill some services\applications.
High memory usage > kill some services\applications or add ram.
Refresh everything > reinstall windows + applications.
Nothing helps? > Buy a new laptop :O)

edit: also consider if the laptop is worth a SSD upgrade.

 

Also note, if you're not using all the memory in your system (it is not thrashing), adding more memory to hardware may actually slow down the machine.

In some laptops the memory may run at a given speed; however by adding more, sometimes the motherboard drops the bus clock speed in order to sync across more chips, thus adding a smaller delay when accessing memory. Consulting your mother board's manual in this regard is highly recommended.

 

You will have some speed-up when loading applications because Superfetch will have more room in memory to load them. However, Superfetch kicks in only after some time has passed after bootup.

Also, there is a possibility that memory will be a bit less paged out to disk. You can see how much of the page file is actually used in Process explorer System information, memory tab. The difference between the values in the System graph and the Physical memory graph represents actual pagefile usage. On my 6 GB system it is approx. 100 MB.

 

I would recommend removing unneeded startup programs and an SSD for better startup times.

 

Ya, just ensure that you have no more than 80 processes running in the background--check with task manager after a bootup--and assess your services console by typing services.msc in the start menu.

Black Viper’s Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Service Configs

That is a good website for configuring your services and disabling some or setting them to load manually.

Additionally, check the msconfig panel by typing msconfig in the start menu. Go to startup and uncheck any items that may be unnecessary. I always uncheck any Adobe or Google items since they usually are preloading for the programs or update checkers.

After all of this, I suggest defragmenting your hard drive with Auslogics Disk Defrag.

Then, once that is all done, make sure you reboot and use your computer as you normally would. When you feel like you have a lot of programs up or that the computer is running slow, open up the task manager and see what the CPU usage hovers around and what the memory usage is. If memory usage is above 70% then I would look into upgrading to 6GB of RAM.

 

thanks guys for explaining,
here is a screenshot of the task manager:



- this is when using one google chrome browser with 5 tabs, itunes open and on , and a note pad open

does this suggest a RAM upgrade would be helpful for speed of programs/booting?

I look at the 'Services and there is so many i dont know which to kill and which to leave

is there certain ones that are unnecessary?

 

Get rid of services and startup programs, drastically, then see how it turns out (101 !?, above 40 here and I wonder what's going on :O) On any not-so-new machine it can really make a difference. Again, task manager will give lot's of clues on where to start.

That will help start-up time and free memory. And it's free. Warning: one have to know what to kick out, always the risk of stopping a needed feature\service\program and not remembering what one just did. Bartlett mentions Black Viper, I have also used that site for reference, finding it very useful. Don't do too much at the time, and (as always before doing anything to the system) do some backups and make restore points.

 

thanks guys,
as i know literally nothing abut computers c, could someone suggest which of the processes i should end:




if i end them now, will that mean they wil never load, unless i select it to?

how do i know which ones are start-up programs?

 

Definetely go to SSD disk. It will be more noticable then upgrade from 3gb to 6 gb RAM.

 

Review my post about the services.msc console which I gave a link for. Everything is explained in there.

 

I'm pretty sure it will increase efficiency if not performance. Nevertheless, my performance index did increase by one point when I went from 4GB to 8GB. What do you make of that?

 

Looking at screenshot 2, seems there are many startup programs as well as services, which programs to keep depends, you'll have to investigate and sort it out. Stopping any services in task manager will not harm, they'll start again at next reboot. Again, remember to do some backups (will be needed one day).

Screenshot 1 shows like 1,15 G's available, so no need for more memory with the current use, apparently no slowdown due to low memory or swapping to hd. But memory is cheap, so...

Assumption: cut down on some services and startup's, then eventually get a ssd (won't make programs run quicker, but everything will load quicker).

ccleaner > tools > startup is great dealing \ experimenting with startup programs, disabling \ enabling as one wishes.

Services are dealt with in Computer Management > Services. When in doubt about a service's setting: Manual, when confident: Disabled.

edit: corrected memory nr.

 

thanks for the replies,

Bertlett i followed your advice and cut some startup programs and it now goes very quick thank!

heres what it looks like now:




But is there anything else i can remov, or need to put back on startup that i removed?

i also checked that site Viper, btut most of the services aren't on my list, so not sure wht to 'Manual'?
this iis the screenshot:





thanks all

 

Here you go:

Windows 7 Services Configuration: Turn Off / Disable Unnecessary Services to Optimize Performance - Tweaking with Vishal
List of Windows 7 services that are safe to disable!

 

thanks that sites great

 

Make sure you go to the orb, and type in "services.msc"

That is the service panel you want to look at, not the one in the task manager

Glad I could help thus far though.

 

why is Chrome using 400Mb+ across 14 processes?

 

Each tab in chrome runs as its own process. sbabbab has 14 tabs up and running.

 

i have now followed the guidance Bartlett and others provided , mainly the windows 7 theme.net link as vipers processes are different to mine

anyway heres a new screen shot of the task manager straight after re-booting




is this sufficient, or should i disable more ?

i have noticed it runs smoother fair bit quicker

- one thing that has reverted back to old looks, is the FN shortcut keys symbol that appears when pressed,
e.g. the volume up/down logo:


any ideas what process this was, that i must have removed

 

Hmm send me a screenshot with all of your services from services.msc (try to get them all with multiple screenshots) along with processes from task manager. I will try to find out which one it is for you. Also, what is your laptop model?

And 63 processes is pretty good, you don't need to reduce it any further.

 

I have an ASUS K52F

Here is a screenshot of the Services:



This is te task manager processes:




Thanks a lot Bartlett!

 

I would change "Quality Windows Audio and Video Experience" to automatic. Then I would change the Microsoft .Net Frameworks to automatic as well. I would also enable Windows Event Log in case you have problems in the future so you can troubleshoot easier!

If that doesn't work after a reboot, try going here:

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download K52F

Then downloading ATKACPI driver and hotkey-related utilities.

 

that worked thanks Bartlett,

but has setting those processes to automatic slowed down the speed ?
as im not too fussed with the volume logo looking different if i get faster speeds


looking at the screenshots, is there anything you would change, either disable or enable (manual/auto), or end processes, to make everything run faster?

again, i just use the laptop for chrome browsing multiple tabs/itunes/word, excel/youtube - sometimes all at same time

you're a great help, thanks

 

I am glad I could help. Nope the speed shouldn't have been slowed down at all really. I mean it is going to be a bit slower because it is just an extra service but it's probably not even .05%

I wouldn't edit anything else really. All I would do is run a disk defrag using Auslogics Disk Defrag and perhaps uninstall any programs that you do not use at all.

Let us know if you have anymore questions and if the computer is still slow when you are multitasking.

 

thanks Bartlett

 

one new problem :s

i have a wireless EPSON SX235W printer
i scanned a few documents wirelessly, fine no problems,
but ive just gone to print and the wireless printer is not installed any more, but for some reason i could scan wirelessly fine

i have just re-installed the CD that came with the printer and the final part is where it connects my laptop to the printer, via usb cable or wireless

- so i connected the usb but it isnt finding the printer - " the product cannot be recognised"

i try the wireless setup but it doesnt find the printer!

windows 7 automatically started installing the drivers through the internet but half way through it said "device driver software was not successfully installed"


so im guessing i disabled something i shouldnt of, which is stopping the laptop to find the printer when connected by usb or wireless
i cant print wirelessly as the printer isnt on my printers/hardware list

any suggestions what ive done wrong and how to fix it?

- ive tried uninstalling then re-installing but i have the same problem

thank you

 

bump .

 

Start the print spooler service.

 

did you follow these steps:

Of course you followed these recommendations. No? Well, time to try to retrace your steps. Your current problem should be just a missing detail, but may take time to find the cause. Careful not to mess up anything in the process.

 

i re-enabled the print spooler service and now it works, thanks teerex